Windlass Fuse Rating?

[Dougal]

I know there'll be a formula for working this out accurately, but I've no idea what size cable I'm running. The cable is bloomin BIG and approx 20ft run I think. Windlass is very old Loftruns Tigres I think. Pretty sure it's a 1500watt motor. The current fuse is rated at 250amp which I think is way too high. What do you guys think? I guess it should also be a trip not a fuse. Easier and faster to reset. Just looking for a ballpark figure for now?

 

[RichardS]

I have a 1000W windlass and the trip is 100A so you could add to that as necessary.

Richard

 

[PaulRainbow]

I know there'll be a formula for working this out accurately, but I've no idea what size cable I'm running. The cable is bloomin BIG and approx 20ft run I think. Windlass is very old Loftruns Tigres I think. Pretty sure it's a 1500watt motor. The current fuse is rated at 250amp which I think is way too high. What do you guys think? I guess it should also be a trip not a fuse. Easier and faster to reset. Just looking for a ballpark figure for now?

With a windlass, you are fusing to protect the wiring and the windlass motor from overloading. The wiring usually has a much higher rating than the windlass, to allow for voltage drop, so you end up fitting a circuit breaker that is rated much less than the wiring (so no worries about overloading the wiring) but is rated to protect the motor from overloading. It's not uncommon to trip the thermal breaker with a windlass, as we do sometimes overload the motor, so fitting a fuse will not be good practice. Assuming the cable is adequate, you should be fitting a 100a thermal breaker if it's 12v or a 70a thermal breaker if it's 24v.